ducts, and the complete absence of the goitre, and of cretinism,-between its progressive diminution and the corresponding development of these maladies. This coincidence results, not only from all the facts we have observed in the Alps, but also by separate observations made in the Pyrenees, the Soissonnais, the Brie, the Nièvre, the Meurthe, the Jura, the Vosges, upon the banks of the Rhine, and in Switzerland; it is confirmed by specific facts, especially by those which M. Boussingault has collected in the Cordilières of New Granada.*

The causes of goitre and of cretinism, are of two kinds :— 1st, A special cause, which is the insufficiency of the quantity of iodine introduced into the animal economy; 2d, The general, or accessory causes, amongst which may be reckoned, damp and confined air, low, close, confined, and badly-situated dwellings, the want of light, the winds, in as much as they are damp, and do not contain iodine, the steepness of the mountains, associated with the preceding circumstances, as nourishment deficient in reparatory principles, filthy clothing, interfering with the functions of the skin, water deprived of oxygen, but only as altered in its tonic qualities. I admit also the influence of age, that of the sexes, and of the temperament, proved by the relative frequency in the occurrence of goitre amongst fair women, that of its being hereditary, that of occupations and habits, which appears to result especially from the liabi lity of persons who carry burdens on their head, to contract goitre.

In general, certain mechanical influences, and especially all debilitating causes, dispose to the formation of goitre, to which tonic agents, such as dry air, wine, iron, &c., give on the contrary the power of resistance to a certain extent; hence we are led to define goitre,-A specific form of lymphatic disorder, determined by a special cause, the want of iodine.

* Professor Cantu, who is the first who has devoted himself to the general research regarding iodine, has correct ideas of the influence which this substance produces in the maintenance of health.

Thus, then, we may class the relations which exist between iodine, goitre, and cretinism, as follows:

First zone, normal, that of Paris.-Goitre and cretinism are unknown. We find that, in this zone, on an average, the volume of air respired by man in twenty-four hours is from (7000 to 8000 pints, litres, according to M. Dumas): the quantity of water drunk, and of food consumed, during the same time, each include from ro too of a milligramme of iodine.

Second zone, that of Soissonnais.-Goitre is more or less rare, cretinism is unknown. It differs from the first zone only in the waters being hard, and being deprived of iodine.

Third zone, that of Lyons and Turin.-Goitre is more or less frequent, cretinism is almost unknown. The proportion of iodine has descended from do to you of a milligramme.

Fourth zone, that of the Alpine valleys.-Goitre and cretinism are endemic. The proportion of iodine in the quantity of air, water, and food, consumed in a day, is at most of a milligramme.

In the intermediate zones the goitre is subordinate to the general influences; in the fourth zone the deficiency of iodine preponderates.

We can do something to procure the iodine in the normal proportion in the second zone by collecting the rain water; in the intermediate zones by the same waters, by making a choice of the springs, and by procuring food from those countries which are rich in iodine; in the fourth zone by the use of the preceding aliments, and of sulpho-iodine waters, after being deprived of sulphur, lavished by nature on the districts most afflicted with goitre, as well as by the use of iodurated salts, already advised by M. Boussingault and by M. Jules Grange. Animal and vegetable productions became iodurated by the use of saline waters, for drinking and in irrigations, as well as by the warm solutions procured by alkaline water from the most ferruginous soils and rocks.

289

On the Ethnography of Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Western Africa. By WILLIAM F. DANIELL, M.D., F.R.G.S., Assistant-Surgeon to the Forces, &c. Communicated by the Ethnological Society.

Among the aboriginal tribes that people the shores of Western Africa are several, which, from their geographical position, customs, diversity of language, and other national peculiarities, merit a more extensive research and consideration into their primitive origin than others. The veil of obscurity which, however, impends over the remote migrations and the distribution of the African races in general, rendered more impenetrable by the absence of any historic evidence or traditional data, constitutes a barrier that effectually precludes any minute inquiry into their progressive development and descent. In none, perhaps, of the scattered tribes, of which we possess a greater or less amount of knowledge connected with their more modern history, do these remarks more distinctly refer than to that community of negroes, which, peopling an eastern portion of the Gold Coast, have hitherto been comprehended under the ordinary designation of "The Akkrahs."

Some discrepancy of opinion formerly prevailed regarding the extent and limits of the territory to which their title could be strictly asserted; but, deferring all discussion upon this subject, it may be sufficient to state that the maritime belt of land at present occupied by the natives of Akkrah is of very circumscribed magnitude, since it only extends from the river Sakkoom, eastward to the small town of Tashia, a distance barely equal to fifteen miles. Inland its territorial boundaries are restricted within a much narrower compass. A brief allusion may be made to the various nations to whose close proximity this limitation can be ascribed, due allowance being granted for the provisional status which the events of a comparatively recent date have conferred upon them.

From the Sakkoom to the westward its confines are formed by the numerous Fanté provinces, united to which, on the north, are the two tributary kingdoms of Akim and Acquapim, with the more distant Ashanté towns; while to the east and north-east, the Adampé, Aquambu, and Krépé races predominate, incorporated with other kindred tribes, which conjoined seaward with the Adampé settlements of Prampram, Ningo, and Adda, constitute not only a terminal barrier, but the connecting link that allies them to the great Popo populations more to leeward.

The aboriginal term employed to denote this insignificant tract of coast is Ghán or Ghà, a syllable extremely difficult to pronounce from its semiguttural intonation. By the Fanté and other Inta nations, it has been denominated Inkran or Inkara, a title that has VOL. LII. NO. CIV.-APRIL 1852.

T

possibly originated from the many termite hills that abound throughout the adjacent districts, and which in their language signifies an ant, although it might equally have been applied either in a just appreciation of its industrial resources and numerical inferiority, or as a derisive expression, to ridicule the moderate pretensions of its inhabitants. It may be satisfactory to remark that the name it now bears, and by which it has hitherto been known to Europeans from the earliest periods, has been derived from this source. The chief towns are three in number, viz., N'glish, Kinka, and Ossu; but the nomenclature under which they are more readily recognised, is that bestowed by the various European powers to whose authority they were amenable, and hence the distinctive appellations of English, Dutch, and Danish Akkrah. The largest in size, and the most ancient in date, is Kinka, or Dutch Akkrah, which, according to general tradition, was built long prior to the others, and on this account, therefore, not only assumes the precedency over the whole as the metropolis, but formerly exerted a certain amount of supremacy over those political or other native disputes which, from this exalted position, were exclusively referred to their arbitration and decision. The British fort situated in the first of these towns, lies seven miles to the eastward of the Rio Sakkoom, and has been placed by nautical writers in lat. 5° 31′ 53′′ N., and long. 0° 11′ 30" W.

The country in the immediate neighbourhood of these towns presents a pleasing and diversified aspect. Stretching far and wide a succession of long and verdant uplands gradually emerge from the coast, which, as they ascend inland, become broken into a variety of gentle undulations and continuous slopes, adorned by a woodland scenery extremely beautiful and picturesque. Advancing still deeper into the interior, these in turn partake of a more mingled character, and are ultimately blended with the elevated mounts and prominent highlands visible in the distance. In these localities the soil is exceedingly rich and fertile, the native plantations or farms producing, almost without the aid of human labour, that abundance of food which so bountifully supplies the necessities of all ranks of life.

In the lowland regions adjoining the ocean, the land is partially divested of those primeval forests and luxuriant underwood observed in other parts of the coast, and somewhat resembles one of those irregular prairies of Southern Africa, which, clothed with lank grass and a few flowers, are dotted at intervals by isolated thickets and occasional clump of trees.

Any dispassionate observer who has acquired but a superficial stock of information connected with the various inland kingdoms of this vast continent, cannot fail of discerning the abnormal changes and varying mutations which the moral and physical characteristics of their populations constantly undergo. Many which, from some peculiar combination of causes, have been more exposed

than others to the afflicting concourse of wars, pestilences, and other depopulating calamities, in progress of time evince their decadence by a gradual decline or total loss of those inherent principles that constituted the basis of their power, while others, from the same controlling elements, become suddenly prostrated, and reduced almost to the verge of extinction. Retaining to the last their peculiar traces of difference, they succumb to the most warlike of their aggressors, until at length the predominant masses of their opponents so far absorb the scattered fragments, that all vestiges of their previous existence disappear. Thus, by such ceaseless and indirect agencies, nations after nations rise, flourish, and decay, and are eventually blotted out from the page of history. The races, however, inhabiting the sea-girt lowlands of Western Africa, have apparently suffered less from these systems of extirpation, when contrasted with others; for, located at a remote distance from the sphere of any internal convulsions, and enjoying but a moderate extent of frontier, with fewer adverse neighbours, they, of course, are less liable to the incidental operation of these causes. Although unable at first to stem the resistless influx of immigration, or the invasion of more potent tribes, which might partly subjugate and dispossess them of their territories, yet, the occurrence of these events at present, so far as can be ascertained, have seldom been of that permanent or effective duration as to entirely obliterate their nationality. Hence, we shall discover, dispersed in various localities, encompassed by the barriers of more populous kingdoms, the isolated vestiges of races, which, from dim and obscure sources, and through a succession of ages, have retained, in almost primitive integrity, their laws, usages, and institutions. Rational inferences, confirmed by the results of experience, have long since tended to point out the fact, that where the inhabitants of any petty country, from their close propinquity to some of the more powerful nations surrounding them, have maintained an intimate intercourse for any protracted period, they have become more or less tinctured with the prevalent customs and manners of the latter, either in consequence of their supposed utility, or from other views equally in unison with their social interests. But that these disjected communities should in general be enabled to resist the effects of such influential impressions, and after the lapse of centuries be capable of conserving, from the innovations of time and hostility of rivals, those essential peculiarities of structure and derivation, which sever them from others in their near vicinage, furnishes a remarkable subject for reflection, and must always excite deep interest and sympathy for those mysterious laws of humanity, that still exert, in unimpared energy, a silent, yet vital, authority over the future destiny and distribution of the negro races.

Making due allowance for the modifications which have necessarily occurred from events associated with European domination, and also from those that prominently figure as the sequence of certain con